Wednesday, April 9, 2025

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. // James 5:17-18

Was Elijah extra powerful as a man? I don’t think so. Elijah did two things that made all the difference in what he experienced as a follower of God. First, he knew God’s will. In Elijah’s case, he listened attentively to God, and God revealed it to Him. We know God’s will by reading God’s Word and praying and listening intently as God applies His Word to situations in our lives and the world around us. Second, Elijah prayed for God’s will to come to pass. God invites us to pray for the things that please Him so we can watch as He works with His majestic might and power, causing His will to occur.

I hope that during these past 24 days, you have grown in your appreciation for all God can do. I hope you have grown in your walk with God and that you are becoming ever closer to Him. I hope you have prayed some big prayers that are according to God’s will. I even hope you have seen some visible answers to your prayers! But even if you have not seen the answers yet, don’t give up – keep on praying, seeking, and knocking because He is listening, and the process is drawing you closer to Him! Continue to implement the things you have learned in these 24 days. (1) Read His Word daily – pick a book of the Bible and read a little each day. (2) Pray – tell Him everything on your heart and ask Him to do big things that will glorify Him. (3) Fast – give up food for a meal, a day, or longer and use some of that time to seek Him in prayer.

  • Pray and ask God to do a mighty spiritual work through our Bible-reading event that begins tomorrow morning, “Our Eyes on Your Word,” where we will have believers read through the entire Bible out loud until we finish on Sunday. Look for the livestream of the event on our website or on Facebook.
  • Pray for our Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday ministry events. Pray that God will draw in the unsaved and unchurched and that they will understand and respond to the Gospel message.
  • Pray for our Long-Range Planning Team to be prayerfully attentive to the Lord as they seek His will and eventually bring it to the church for prayerful consideration. Please continue to pray for this team as they meet weekly.
  • We would love to see you tonight at First Priority, as we call on Him as a church at 6:30pm in the worship center! Tonight, we will celebrate what God has done and taught us during the past 24 days. Come listen as we give God praise.
  • Thank you so much for your labor of prayer for FBC Mandeville these past 24 days. Keep it up!